The head of Davaktiv commented on the Wildberries representatives at "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi"

Head of Davaktiv commented on Wildberries representatives in "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi"

"UzPost has not been transferred to Wildberries under trust management"

In recent days, following the appointment of Wildberries representatives to 5 out of 9 seats on the Supervisory Board of "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi" JSC, speculations emerged that the national postal operator had been transferred to the Russian company under trust management. Sohibjon Murodov refuted these claims. "As of today, it has not been transferred to trust management," said the head of Davaktiv.

According to him, the task of financially rehabilitating "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi" and updating its corporate governance mechanisms has been set for 2025. To this end, the practice used in private banks and large companies – attracting specialists with foreign experience to executive bodies and supervisory boards – has also been introduced at UzPost.

Murodov noted that the activities of companies like Uzum and Wildberries have expanded in the postal services market, while the demand for traditional postal services has changed.

"The postal service lost a revenue source worth 50–60 billion soums"

The agency director also touched upon one of the factors that led to the deterioration of the financial condition of Uzbekistan's postal service.

"Previously, one of the areas that brought good income to the post office was the service of delivering information about administrative fines to citizens. Today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and banks have established the delivery of such information through mobile applications. The practice of printing it on paper, putting it in an envelope, and delivering it to the citizen has been abandoned. After this service was digitized, the post office suffered a very large financial loss. I am talking about billions. The post office lost a revenue source worth 50–60 billion soums from a single service," said Sohibjon Murodov.

In his opinion, in such a situation, it is necessary not to be limited to traditional postal services, but to develop new business directions and introduce modern management mechanisms.

Wildberries may allocate an interest-free loan of up to 360 billion soums to the postal service

Murodov also commented on the issue of attracting a 100 billion soum loan by the postal service of Uzbekistan, which recently caused public discussion.

"The issue of a 100 billion soum loan was included in the agenda for a corporate decision. But being included in the agenda does not mean a decision was made. It was not voted in favor there. The reason was that the attraction of 100 billion soums at 14 percent was envisaged. We asked a question: which direction will this money be spent on, when will it pay off, will it justify itself? Won't this money be plundered tomorrow and create additional debt? After these questions, the post office is renegotiating with its partners," he said.

According to the head of Davaktiv, the possibility of attracting an interest-free loan of up to 360 billion soums from Wildberries to UzPost is currently being discussed.

"Currently, in the process of preliminary agreement with us, the issue of attracting a loan of 360 billion soums has been raised, but interest-free. This does not mean that a loan of 360 billion soums will be taken at once. A credit line of 360 billion soums will be opened. As much as is needed will be taken. It may not be taken at all. But the issue of effective use of the funds taken for each purchase, for each direction will be discussed," said the head of the agency.

He added that the involvement of Wildberries representatives in the supervisory board of "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi" is precisely related to this plan to allocate interest-free funds of up to 360 billion soums.

"The executive body remains in the same composition, the shareholder has not changed. We want to use their experience. That is, we involved their representatives in the supervisory board from the perspective of developing a strategy for the development of the post office and the effective use of attracted loan funds. But this is a term contract. If it yields results, it will be continued. If it does not yield results, ways of using other management methods will be considered," said Sohibjon Murodov.

It is noted that UzPost has more than 1,600 distribution points across the republic. They cover 280 districts and cities of the country.

"The post office has more than 1,600 distribution points in 280 districts and cities across the republic. Even if you go to a remote mahalla, people know where the post office is. Because they have been used to this for years. This is very attractive for both Uzum and Wildberries," said the director of Davaktiv.

He noted that "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi" is also cooperating on a large scale with Uzum.

"The post office currently has more than a thousand contracts with Uzum. Similarly, there is cooperation with Wildberries. It's just that because we did not provide enough information to the public about this, it is natural that you have such questions. We are working in cooperation with both companies," Murodov said.

It was reported that a final decision on the full privatization of "Oʻzbekiston pochtasi" has not yet been made.

"A full decision on the privatization of the post office has not yet been made. First of all, we want to introduce the experience of sectoral companies that have international experience and their own place in the market. If we reach an agreement [with Wildberries] on attracting interest-free loan funds, we will also announce this to the public," said Sohibjon Murodov.